


Hail Arthur

by Ezzy



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-01
Updated: 2012-07-01
Packaged: 2017-11-08 23:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/448790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ezzy/pseuds/Ezzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hail Arthur, Once and Future King.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hail Arthur

The last thing Arthur had seen had been two startling blue eyes, blinking back tears from a pale face. Even with a sword through him, lying in a growing pool of his own blood, the tragic expression had made him try and reach for it, to comfort it. His hand had only made it halfway before it failed, but its descent was caught by another hand, which carried it to its destination, helping him when he failed. He was always doing that.

He could hear sobbing, and see someone in his peripheral vision, but he did not look away. These were his dying moments and he wasn’t about to waste them. He wanted that face to stay with him for whatever eternity came.

“Stay with me,” he muttered, huddling closer into sheltered arms.

The eyes blinked back more tears and held his gaze, and for those few moments they were back in the world that belonged only to them. He could no longer make out Morgana, wailing over the body of his killer. Lancelot and Gwen had already left, long gone by now. It was finally just the two of them. 

“Always.” The voice finally returned, the chocked sobs evident in it.

Arthur held on a little longer, making the most of this deathly embrace. Just before the waves of darkness finally swallowed him up, he heard his last tribute;

“Hail Arthur, once and future King.”

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

He wasn’t sure why he was here, why, with his precious time off from university and his father’s heavy regime, he’d decided to come here of all places.

He really was in deepest, darkest nowhere; in the overgrown countryside, of an almost uninhabited part of England. And what had he found? A complete ruin. The place was almost unreachable, practically unknown, and what was more, no historian had ever been able to identify it with anything or anyone of any importance.

But the place stirred something within him; a longing, a passion. It had been something truly great once. He wondered aimlessly through the dilapidated markers that showed where its streets had been, pondering the feelings of familiarity and – strangely enough – home, until he reached an orchard on the outskirts.

Up until now he’d been completely alone, for which he’d been grateful for; he didn’t want to be disturbed. Now, however, he saw that there was a figure leaning against a tree, watching his approach, and he made his way over cautiously. It appeared to be a boy of similar age to him; with bizarre clothes one, the palest skin, contrasting dark hair and the most remarkable blue eyes. He was sure he’d never seen this person in his life, but, like the ruins, he stirred emotions in him. When the boy smiled, he’d found himself smiling back.

“Took you long enough.” 

Strange words from a complete stranger, but something inside of him understood.

“You’re supposed to wait for me; don’t complain.” He checked himself, then decided to start again on a more appropriate tact.

“What’s your name?”

The boy looked surprised, possibly even a little hurt.

“Merlin.”

“What? Like that wizard legend guy?”

The strange boy stared at him, then burst out laughing.

“Hail Arthur, once and future King.”


End file.
